Potential policy offers hope to students expelled at U.

Expelled students may get a second chance to continue their
education at the University.

At the next Board of Governors meeting on Oct. 13 in Winants
Hall on the College Avenue campus, a clemency policy draft is
scheduled to appear and be voted on before the board.

The draft proposes that any expelled student, who proves they
have moved past disreputable behavior, may apply for clemency.

"We recognize that people do make mistakes in their lives and
that there may come a time — after a period of time — that people
change. They are entitled to be given a second chance," said Vice
President for Student Affairs Gregory S. Blimling. "It is really
reserved for those people who have not been able to join another
university to complete their education someplace else. It is really
designed for those people who have made significant changes in
their life and want to complete their education and feel they have
no other options."

The most current draft, which has been worked on for nearly a
year, states that a student must wait a minimum of four calendar
years after the original expulsion to request clemency.

At that time, the written request must include a documentation
of the student's life pertaining to the reason for their expulsion,
potentially including records on mental health, employment,
criminal probation records, educational records, social service
records and letters of recommendation.

An advisory panel would then review the application and conduct
a personal interview or inquiry after more information, according
to the document. Next, the panel would make a recommendation to the
University president, whose decision on the matter is final.

"If [the student] has made an honest attempt to put their life
back together, I think they should be given a second chance," said
Mason Gross School of the Arts junior Ashley Petersen. "They should
be allowed back with some provisions, like attending
counseling."

If a student is awarded clemency, they would remain on
disciplinary probation until their degree is completed, according
to the document. They must also complete graduation requirements
expected of current students at the time of their readmission as
well as oblige to any other conditions the University president
would impose.

"If they have been expelled, it will say ‘expelled' at the
bottom of the transcript," Blimling said. "If a student is
suspended and returns to the University after the period of
suspension and completed their degree without any trouble, we
remove the notation of suspension from their transcript. But in the
case of expulsion, it is explained to that they are not eligible to
ever return to the institution. That means that it remains on that
person's record forever."

School of Arts and Sciences first-year student Alex Natanzon
compared the potential clemency policy to society at large.

"Criminals who are reformed get another chance of going back
into society after doing something that is — I would assume — a lot
more horrible than what you would do to get kicked out of school …
When you're still in college, you're still young and your life
hasn't started yet," he said.

According to the Code of Student Conduct, there are several
reasons for expulsion from the University, including violations of
academic integrity, drug infractions and violence.

"Anytime there is that kind of danger to the community where it
isn't just someone threatening to do harm, but perhaps even
attempting to do harm, it would certainly lead to expulsion," said
Director of Student Conduct Ave Pollack.

Blimling, Vice President of Undergraduate Education Barry Qualls
and other administrators drafted the policy and presented it
earlier this year to Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Philip Furmanski, the Committee of Student Conduct, Rutgers
University Student Assembly's Executive Committee and other
administrators including the Chancellors of Newark and Camden
Steven Diner and Wendell Pritchett, respectively, Blimling
said.

The next step is approval by the Board of Governors.

The University is not the first to draft and propose such an
appendage to its Code of Student Conduct. Others throughout the
country have also implemented similar policies, Pollack said. But
recent requests from expelled students inspired the change at the
University.

"Within the last year and a half ago we have received requests
from several students and they have asked to be reconsidered,"
Blimling said. "They had no other options available to complete
their education."